The Legend of Spyro: the Dawn of Hope
by Telekinetic Moose
Summary: After narrowly escaping death on the Night of Eternal Darkness, Spyro wakes up to find the world in a state of war. As he struggles to maintain the balance within himself, Spyro must realise his destiny and bring peace to the world he has been absent from for seven years. Rated T just to be safe. AU from DOTD. On hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is NOT a sequel to the Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon. It is essentially a replacement story to Dawn of the Dragon, as I found that there were many aspects of the story that did not make sense, or else were left unanswered or unexplained in that game. Some of the story elements will stay the same as the original DOTD, but most of it will receive a clean slate.**

**Disclaimer: I, Telekinetic Moose, do not own Spyro or any other related content. As if it wasn't obvious enough that I'm uploading this onto a website called FANFICTION.**

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><p><em><span><strong>Prologue<strong>_

The tall figure shrouded in a crimson cloak knelt on the hard, dusty ground, a bow of yew notched and drawn in his hands, directed at a small clearing in front of the grey and brown foliage that concealed his lean and muscular form. Motionlessly, he awaited his prey. He did not know how long he had been there, only aware of the fact that, sooner or later, his target would pass by his hiding place, unsuspecting of his attack.

He had spied the enemy patrol whilst searching for food. The Shattered Vale wasn't renowned for the lush forests teeming with wildlife that Hunter was used to in his home of Avalar, so wild game was very hard to come by. Fruits and nuts were out of the question, as cheetahs ate only meat, and, from his father's stories, he was pretty certain that the same applied to dragons.

So, in an attempt to find some possible way of locating a wild animal, he had approached the tallest, sturdiest looking tree he could find and, due to his natural climbing skills as a cheetah, scaled it to get a better look at the desolate excuse for a forest. Even from a distance, the colossal form of the Mountain of Malefor loomed over the valley like a great brooding monster waiting to strike. The sight of the haunted mountain sent a chill down Hunter's spine, made even worse in the knowledge that he would have to return to its eerie caverns before long. Upon sighting the abominable landmark, he had uttered a silent prayer to the ancestors to shorten the time he had to stay in this bleak place. Seven years had been bad enough.

Almost immediately upon searching he realised that he was not alone. Roughly half a mile from his vantage point, a thin column of smoke rose steadily from a small thicket of trees. He quickly descended and went to get a closer look. Upon further inspection, it was easy to confirm Hunter's suspicions, although he could not tell how many there were. He had decided to lay in waiting for his foe rather than attack their camp, as he guessed that they would be most vulnerable when on the move. He theorised that they would most likely have guards and lookouts surrounding their camp, so a full on assault would be both dangerous and stupid.

_Although, I shouldn't give my enemy too much credit, _mused Hunter from his hiding place. _Apes aren't exactly famous for logical thinking._

The sound of footsteps caught Hunter's attention, and before long, a group of apes lumbered into view. There were six of them in total; the patrol leader, the largest one wielding a large hammer; an ape wielding a deadly looking sword; two small ape foot soldiers armed with nothing but their claws; an ape armed with a crossbow; an average-sized ape with one hand clasping a knife, the other holding the leash of a cruel-looking hunting wolf.

Quickly debating his first target, Hunter released the arrow, which buried itself in the throat of the crossbow ape. Before the ape had even hit the ground, a second arrow had already been loaded into the bow and found its way into the eye of the wolf. It wasn't until the third arrow punctured the wolf-guiding ape's heart that the rest of the group realised where the cheetah was shooting from. As the sword wielding ape charged at him, Hunter quickly launched an arrow between his eyes before vaulting over his falling adversary. He notched another arrow in mid-air and fired it into the skull of one of the small apes. He nimbly dodged the ape commander's hammer and clambered onto his back, where another of Hunter's arrows pierced the ape's head at point blank range. Riding his dead enemy to the floor, he easily shot the remaining ape in the back as it turned to get away.

Now that the threat had been taken care of, there came a much simpler task: looting the bodies.

He started by retrieving all of his arrows, as well as taking the ones from the crossbow ape. They were not of the same size or quality as Hunter's Avalarian Arrows, but they still worked reasonably well with his bow. He then searched through their supplies, hoping to find something, anything, of value. The sword was too large and clunky for Hunter's taste, but he did pocket the dagger, feeling that it would be handy to have a few extra blades.

He almost completely ignored the leader's hammer, and would have disregarded it entirely if he had not noticed a slight shimmering originating from it. Upon closer inspection, Hunter discovered its source: a small, yet extremely valuable, green magic gem.

For most creatures, a gem like this was absolutely worthless besides having monetary value. For dragons, however, even the smallest of gems could be the deciding factor in a fight. Hunter distinctly remembered his father recounting many such gems during his experiences with dragons: how red gems could heal a dragon's injuries, green gems could replenish their magical abilities; how purple gems could fill a dragon with explosive rage, and how blue gems, the rarest of the four varieties of Dragon Gems, could grant a dragon knowledge from the ancestors themselves and gift them with more powerful abilities. Hunter knew that what he had found embedded in the ape's hammer, the object that he now cradled in the palm of his hand, was worth more than everything else in his supplies put together.

As he opened his side pocket to store the precious stone in, something else caught his attention: a small, orange glowing something.

_I can't believe I forgot about this. _Hunter scolded himself, examining the glowing orange crystal shard. _Although I shouldn't be too surprised. It has been seven years, after all._

He pocketed both of the gems and turned his eyes towards the distant mountain that he had been dreading to return to. _This must mean… it's time! I can almost leave this place! _The thought filled him with a joy he hadn't felt in years. He could soon go home, to his father, to his village, to Neema.

He lifted his head to the sky and whispered "Thank you, Ancestors."

He almost left right then, but he quickly remembered something: the wolf. It wasn't exactly a delicacy, and he wasn't sure how much meat there was on it that could feed both him and two adolescent dragons, but that hardly mattered. Meat was meat.

Slinging the wolf carcass over his shoulder, Hunter set off for the Mountain of Malefor for what he hoped to be the last time.

XXX

Several hours later, Hunter emerged into a sizeable cavern deep within the mountain. The chamber was filled with rubble and debris, including the remains of what looked like a barbed steel throne. A small camp with a few bundles of supplies rested in the middle of the cavern, by which Hunter deposited his kill. Everything in the cave was illuminated by something so extraordinary that everything else near it paled in comparison.

A gigantic crystal stood sturdily near the edge of the cavern, supporting what looked like half of the mountain. A sunset orange in colour, the centre of the crystal was glowing with such intensity that looking at it had the same effect as looking directly at the sun in the morning. Suspended in the gargantuan crystal were three figures; a small golden dragonfly and an adolescent dragoness with glossy black scales, enfolded within the crimson wings of a male dragon of the same age with scales of a magnificent purple. The purple dragon, said to hold unbelievable power, on whose shoulders the fate of the world rested upon.

Hunter's attention was directed to the crystal by an ear-shattering echo as the crystal began to glow even brighter, each flash like the pulse of the living beings it contained. The front of the crystal began to crack, fractions of pure white light escaping from the fractures. Then, with an almighty crash, the centre of the crystal shattered and the cavern was flooded with light before fading into darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry that it's been so long since I uploaded the last chapter. Writer's Block is the bane of my life. I'll try to write these more quickly, but I'm not promising anything. **

**I'm not too proud of this chapter, but my Beta-Reader "Fire Shallows" seems to think it's fine. **

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><p><em>Chapter 1:<em>

_Dawn of the Dragon_

Blackness. No matter which way he turned his gaze, he could see nothing. Absolutely nothing whatsoever. There was no way to gain even a hint as to where he was, aside from the fact that he appeared to be lying on his front on hard, solid ground.

A scraping sound drew his attention and he tensed, painfully aware that there was someone, or _something_, in the darkness. The scraping continued, and a brief flicker of light a few feet away temporarily illuminated his surroundings, although not enough to get a good enough picture of the area. Another flicker, brighter this time, again brought a brief glimpse of light. The scraping increased in rapidity, giving off more frequent bursts of light, and he could see a figure crouching on the ground trying to start a fire.

"Who's there?" Spyro called out, trying hard to sound a lot braver than he felt. The scraping stopped, and the world became shrouded in darkness once more. After several tense moments, a voice answered him from within the black void, deeper and yet less harsh than he had been expecting.

"Do not be frightened, young dragon", it said, "I am a friend. I mean you no harm." The scraping continued, even more vigorously until, with a soft _whoosh_, the area around him became considerably warmer and a faint, flickering light met Spyro's eyes, allowing him to see the figure properly for the first time.

A tall, bipedal creature stood in front of him, a large crimson cloak draped over his well-toned body. He had orange fur dotted with patches of black, and his face had a feline look to it. A hunting bow and quiver of arrows were slung over his shoulder.

"Uh… I don't mean to be rude," Spyro stammered, slowly and achingly getting to his feet. "But who… and _what_… are you?"

"Ah, forgive my lack of introduction." The feline bowed his head in a sign of respect. "I am a cheetah from the land of Avalar. My name is Hunter."

"Hunter…" The name sounded familiar, although it took several moments for Spyro to remember why. "You were a prisoner on that pirate ship! You wrote a letter to me, warning me that the Ape King was hunting me!"

The cheetah cracked a small smile. "I am glad to know that you remember one small deed after all of these years."

The euphoria at figuring out the stranger's identity faded from Spyro's mind as panic began to take over. _What does he mean, "After all of these years"? I escaped from the _Fellmuth _only a few days ago! _He looked to Hunter for an explanation, but the cheetah merely shook his head and said "I will explain later. It will be a lot easier for me to tell you when your companions are awake." He gestured to the two prone figures lying a few feet away from the purple dragon, which, up until that point, had gone completely unnoticed by him.

It took no time at all for Spyro to recognise them; the golden dragonfly, who looked dull and lifeless without emitting his usual soft glow; the dragoness his age, with glossy black scales, two rows of ivory horns and ruby red wings.

"Sparx!" Spyro called out, rushing towards his friends. "Cynder! Are you ok?" He gently nudged his dragonfly foster brother with his paw, before shaking Cynder's shoulder, desperately trying to rouse them both. After several agonising moments, during which Hunter tended the fire to ensure it didn't go out, Sparx groaned, lazily stretching out and flapping his wings as his body began to light up.

"Ugh… did I oversleep again?" he asked, rubbing his eyes as he began to hover at eye level with Spyro, who simply rolled his eyes, glad the dragonfly was awake and his annoying, joking self.

"No, Sparx, you didn't oversleep. You were just unconscious for a while." Spyro answered, before bobbing his head in Cynder's direction. "Help me wake her up."

"Why should I try to wake up the evil she-dragon who tried to kill us and led us to this god-forsaken place?" Sparx complained loudly as Spyro walked over to the unconscious form of the young dragoness. "It seems to me that I should-"

"Sparx," Spyro interrupted, annoyed at the dragonfly's unhelpfulness. "Stop talking. Either help me wake her up, or go do something useful." He then started shaking Cynder by the shoulder again and whispered her name into her ear frill as Sparx flew over to the fire, muttering to himself. After several minutes of gentle coaxing, the dragoness' eyes wearily fluttered open and she groaned. He slowly helped her to her feet and breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that she was unharmed.

"Spyro?" She mumbled, visibly struggling to remain standing. "What happened? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, Cynder. Maybe Hunter can explain it to us." Spyro replied, supporting her with his wing.

"Hunter?" Cynder asked, utterly perplexed, as the purple dragon led her to the recently-lit fire. "Who's Hunter?"

"That would be me" the cheetah spoke, looking up from his work of skinning a large wolf to face the two dragons, who sat down by the fire. He then said to Spyro, "Shall I get started?"

Spyro nodded, eager to hear Hunter's explanation. _This should help to clear some things up._

"There is no easy way to tell you this, friends," Hunter sighed, "but… you've been gone from the world for over seven years."

Cynder gasped; Sparx gaped silently, trying in vain to find the correct words to express himself in this situation; Spyro merely said "How?"

"I… I'm not sure exactly, but…" Hunter hesitated, as if unsure how to best word his explanation. "…When I found you, the three of you were frozen in that giant crystal over there." He pointed to the remains of a colossal crystal, the centre completely shattered, the exterior still sturdy enough to support a large mass of rock above it. "That was over seven years ago. I've been here ever since."

The sight of the crystal seemed to trigger something within Spyro's mind, and he was temporarily overwhelmed as a flood of memories washed over him:

_The young dragon looked up in apprehension at the demonic mountain, the peak warped like a mouth, firing a beam of purple energy into the sky and reaching all the way up to the twin moons, only a few hours away from meeting at an eclipse that would shroud the world in darkness._

_Countless foul, rotting creatures swarmed the island amidst the green lake, lusting to spill the blood of the only living thing in their wake._

_The purple dragon's body was filled with energy from the eclipse and became wrapped in deep, black shadows, and mercilessly poured wave upon wave of dark energy at the large ape standing before him._

_The innermost chamber of the mountain began to collapse in a cascade of rock and metal, and the words of the Chronicler echoed within the young dragon's head as his body began to glow with a brilliant orange aura:_

"_Ride out this storm, and live to fight another day."_

XXX

"Spyro?"

He couldn't believe this. He had been frozen for seven years!

"Spyro?"

What had changed in that time? How far had the Dark Master's forces spread?

_The Dark Master…_

"Spyro!"

The Chronicler had said that the Dark Master would be freed that night. Cold, irreplaceable fear gripped his heart like a steel vice. _He's free. The Dark Master has been free for seven years. He's had more than enough time to-_

"_SPYRO!"_

"What?"

Inches from his face, Sparx was hovering in front of his eyes, wearing an irritable expression. Cynder and Hunter were looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and concern.

"Are you ok? You kinda just zoned out for moment. I know this is tough to take in, but-"

"Hunter," Spyro interrupted, choosing his next words carefully to try to remain as calm as possible. "The Dark Master… has he…"

The cheetah nodded gravely. "I am afraid so. He returned shortly after your disappearance. Although none of us have seen him in the flesh as of yet, his forces have greatly increased in number and have fought more fiercely than they have for generations. The world has become a much darker place, Spyro."

The reality of what had happened hit Spyro with the force of an ape's hammer, and he was momentarily lost for words, before finally being able to say what was on his mind. "I… I've failed… They were all counting on me, and I failed… The entire world was counting on me, and I FAILED!" Anger replaced his sorrow as he said this, stunning the others at his sudden outburst. "How could I have let this happen!? I was supposed to save the world, but instead, I abandoned it to _Him!_" He turned away from his friends, unable to look at them as shame and rage threatened to overwhelm him.

"Spyro…" The tenderness with which Cynder spoke his name forced Spyro to look around as the dragoness stood beside him and draped her wing over his back. "You shouldn't blame yourself. It was beyond your control. It's not your fault."

Spyro felt there was some truth to her words, but this didn't help him feeling responsible for the state the world was in now… however bad _that_ was…

He suddenly didn't want to be around them anymore.

"Leave me alone." He said harshly, brushing Cynder's wing aside with one of his own and walking away from the fire, stopping to collapse onto the ground only when he was a good distance away. Conflicting emotions boiled within Spyro like the fiery magma from the Munitions Forge as he tried to get to sleep, but over all of them, one thought raged inside of his head:

_I have failed._


	3. Chapter 3

**Edit: I actually posted this on Sunday, but because I replaced the A/N chapter rather than making a new one, it didn't inform anyone of an update. Oops. Well, it's here now. Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>AN: It's been almost 6 months since my last chapter :s Anyway, I'll let you read it now, and save the excu- er, I mean, explanation, for the end.**

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><p><em>Chapter 2:<em>

_Winds of Change_

The sounds of war roared in her ears as she beheld the battlefield below her, the foul stench of blood and death strong in her nostrils even from her vantage point in the clouds. Hordes of apes clashed with an army of dragons, the latter group slowly pressing their advantage. The world below was rent with piercing cries as explosive blasts of magic, originating from both sides of the fray, mingled with the harsher sounds of claws and horns against flesh, of metallic weapons against scales. Neither side were aware of her position, of the sleek black dragoness hidden just above the lowest layer of clouds.

That was about to change.

She gave one swift beat of her wings before pulling into a great dive, unleashing an ear-splitting, blood-curdling roar to strike fear into the hearts of her foes. The combatants below her all seemed transfixed as she hurtled through the air, and it was already too late for the army of dragons to do anything when they realised that the apes were not her target.

With an almighty roar, torrents of fireballs erupted from her mouth and exploded into cascades of bright flames that engulfed many of the dragons before they could so much as cry out in shock. In a blizzard of claws, horns and the deadly scythe-like blade at the end of her tail, she tore through the ranks of bewildered and terrified dragons as easily as cutting through grass. It was only when she reached a male earth dragon that she slowed her pace. Her orders were to capture, not to kill.

She quickly tackled the earth guardian and, before he had a chance to react, bit down on the back of his neck, temporarily paralysing him. She then grabbed him with her claws and beat her wings with all of her strength, returning to the air and unleashing streams of molten fire into the recovering draconic forces as the Terror of the Skies returned to her master with her prize.

XXX

Cynder awoke with a start, panting as the terror from her dream slowly abated. She managed to calm her breathing, allowing rational thoughts to overcome her panic.

_It was just a dream. _She told herself. _Just a nightmare. You're not there anymore, Cynder. It's happened. It won't happen again. _She had been waking up this way every morning since Spyro released her from her curse, yet it still didn't get any easier.

She sat up from her resting place to look around the small clearing in which the group had made their camp; from Hunter, poring over a map of the surrounding area; to Sparx, fluttering around the camp purely out of boredom; and finally to Spyro, who lay in a defeated slump on the edge of the site, away from the others. It pained Cynder to see him like this. She felt completely helpless, being unable to bring comfort and reassurance to the dragon that had done so much for her. Spyro hadn't spoken a word since their departure from the Well of Souls two days ago; eyes downcast, head drooping, he simply followed Hunter's lead, and ate hardly anything. Cynder was worried about him.

She stood up, stretched her muscles, and walked over to stand next to Hunter, peering over his shoulder to look at the map. The map showed various forests and mountain ranges, as well as a few villages and other notable locations. To the west lay the land of Malefor and the eponymous mountain, to the east the mushroom forest, along with the Dragon Temple. Between them, the mountainous Shattered Vale and the rolling plains and dense woodland of Avalar. In short, the map displayed everything on the island.

"So, Hunter, whereabouts are we?" She asked after looking at the map.

The cheetah turned to look at her briefly before pointing to the map and saying, "We've travelled through most of this area, and are about to enter this mountain range, here." He pointed to said mountains on the map, showing that they had nearly travelled the entire length of the desolate woodlands they were currently in. "We should come across an abandoned market town on the other side, and from there we can find the source of the Silver River. We can then follow the river through this forest, before reaching the border of the Shattered Vale. The river passes between these two mountains," He indicated the area with his finger. "So all we have to do is follow it and we should reach Avalar. With any luck, it should take us about four to five days to leave the Vale; maybe less if we are quick enough."

"We still have a ways to go, then." Cynder noted.

"I am afraid so, although it shouldn't be too difficult if we follow the river. It runs right past the Dragon Temple, and through the entirety of Summer Forest. There are no settlements in the forest, so we shouldn't encounter too many problems."

Cynder nodded after taking this all in, before asking, "How long will it take us to reach the temple?"

Hunter stroked his muzzle in thought for a few moments. He then shrugged, saying, "At a rough guess, I'd say… somewhere between two and three weeks…"

"What!?" A voice suddenly exclaimed, and both Hunter and Cynder looked up from the map to see Sparx hovering over them, his arms folded and a distraught expression on his tiny face. "What do you mean, 'two or three weeks'? We've already been travelling for two days, and you're telling me we're not even close!?"

"You didn't honestly think we could walk from one end of the island to the other in a matter of days, did you?" Hunter asked incredulously.

"Yeah, well I had hoped we would have actually made some progress by now." Sparx answered sounding incredibly annoyed at their situation.

"If you had been paying attention, you would know that we _are_ making progress." Hunter said in a frustrated tone. "At any rate, we should be going soon." He stood up and turned towards the mountains in the east. "With any luck, we should reach the town before nightfall."

Twenty minutes later, after Hunter had packed up all of the supplies and the group had eaten a few slices of meat from a wolf Hunter had killed and cooked several days past, they set off towards the mountains. The journey was very uneventful; the landscape was unremarkable, its thin leafless trees, dry brown grass and general dead appearance made the woods a very gloomy place. Even when they reached the mountains, the area was still bleak, the lifeless brown colouring of the woods slowly changing to the dull grey of cliffs and rocks. The group walked in moderate silence, which only broken by Sparx' occasional attempts at starting a conversation. This proved to be futile, however, and after a while he stopped trying. The sun had almost set by the time they reached the town.

Or, at least, what was left of it.

Not a single building remained intact; some only had partially collapsed walls or roofs, others had been completely reduced to rubble. All of them bore numerous scorch marks, and whatever plant life there had been had either been burned away, or else had withered and died from the lack of nutrients.

Cynder looked upon the scene of utter devastation with horror, wondering who could have been responsible for the destruction of this once-peaceful town.  
><em>Could… could <em>I _have done this? _She thought fearfully. _Was this town a victim of my search for Ignitus, its only crime being on the same island as the fire guardian's hiding place? _Her feelings of guilt and shame intensified at these thoughts; no matter how hard she tried, her past always found some way to come back to haunt her. When she had run away from the Dragon Temple, she had hoped that things would get better - for Spyro and the Guardians, if not for her - but somehow it had only seemed to make things worse. Her departure had given her more confidence in her skills in combat, true, but the fact that Spyro had gone out of his way to search for her made her feel like she caused more trouble than she was worth, and Spyro getting trapped in the Well of Souls because he was trying to rescue her only accentuated those feelings.

Her discomfort must have shown clearly on her face, for at that moment, Hunter addressed her.

"It wasn't you, Cynder." He said, giving her a reassuring smile. "This attacked occurred not long before the Night of Eternal Darkness. Whilst I was not there for the attack, myself, my village did receive word of it. Eye witnesses claim that it was a black dragon that destroyed this town, but it did not fit your description."

Cynder was greatly relieved to hear this, but a small voice in her mind still seemed to say, _"So what? This one small settlement wasn't destroyed by you, but countless others were. You still have blood on your paws." _Still, she was extremely grateful for Hunter's words, yet there was something about his last statement that puzzled her.

"If it wasn't me, then who was it?"

"As to that, I cannot say." Hunter replied. "All we know was that it was a black dragon. Nobody who was there managed to get close to it and lived to tell the tale."

This news sent shivers down Cynder's spine. This dragon sounded absolutely terrifying, not to mention completely unstoppable.

_Just like I was,_ she thought glumly.

She looked over to Spyro, who stood looking at the remains of a large building several yards away. His expression remained impassive, as it had for the past few days, yet Cynder could see a brief flicker of anger cross his features, as well as a hint of determination. Cynder smiled inwardly at this sight. _Well, it looks like he's still in there, somewhere._

It was at that moment that she noticed that Sparx had been completely silent this entire time. Whilst this wouldn't usually trouble her – not having to put up with his constant insults and complaints was always a blessed relief, albeit only a temporary one – right at that moment she found it rather unsettling. She looked around the area, only to find that the dragonfly was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, do you know where Sparx is, Hunter? I haven't seen him since we got here."

"I expect he's probably gone to explore. He was beginning to look bored on the journey here. I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later."

Sure enough, Sparx returned within the next few minutes, a slightly panicked expression on his face. Cynder was the first to notice him, and she quickly pointed this out to Spyro and Hunter, whom she had been helping to find a building where they could take shelter for the night.

"Guys, guys! There's something I've got to tell you!" The dragonfly sounded agitated, and Cynder could tell that he had found something that had greatly unsettled him.

"What is it?" Hunter questioned, instantly on the alert.

"Well… you see, I was exploring the town, and… and I saw this path, so I followed it, and I came across this cave. I decided to go in and…" He paused, seeming to ready himself for something horrible. "And… there were two dragon skeletons in there!"

"What!?"  
>Cynder was genuinely surprised by Hunter's exclamation; it was disturbing news, yes, but she hadn't expected such a reaction from the usually cool and collected cheetah.<p>

"Anyway…" Sparx continued. "I went to check some of the other caves, and they're all the same! There were at least two in every cave…"

"Oh no…" Hunter muttered, looking incredibly distraught at this news. "This is not good…"

"What's wrong, Hunter?" Cynder asked, despite knowing that, in the current circumstances, it was a rather feeble question.

"My father told me of these caves when I was a child." Hunter began, composing himself. "He told me that they were home to a large number of wind dragons. If what Sparx found in those caves is anything to go by, then that must mean…"

"…That they were all wiped out…" Cynder finished, cold dread clenching her gut. This hadn't simply been a random attack, the mindless destruction of one town.

This had been genocide.

Cynder felt sickened by the very thought of it; of the fact that an entire community had been eradicated by a mysterious black dragon that sounded even more dangerous than she had been; of the memories of being forced to do similar atrocities under the Dark Master's paw; and the knowledge of the day the Dragon Temple had been raided by Gaul's forces, and all but Spyro's egg and her own had been smashed.

She wasn't just sickened by this; she was enraged by it.

_Why would they do this? What purpose does this serve? Do they take pleasure in ending countless lives? In murdering the unborn without a hint of remorse?_

She turned to face Spyro, and instead of seeing the distant expression he had adopted recently, his face was scowling with anger akin to hers, a hard, determined glint in his eyes. As she met his gaze, an unspoken agreement seemed to pass between them.

_We_ will _find the ones responsible for this. And we _will _make them pay for it._

"We shouldn't stay here." She said suddenly, catching the attention of Hunter and Sparx, both of whom looked perplexed.

"What do you mean, Cynder?" Hunter asked after a moment of silence.

"We shouldn't disturb this place more than it has been already. Many dragons died here, and we should respect that." She stated firmly. "Besides, I don't think I could sleep here anyway."

Hunter nodded his head in understanding. "I can respect that. We still have a bit of sunlight left. If we follow that path," he pointed towards a trail that lead out of the town and down the mountain and into the forest. "We should reach the banks of the Silver River before long. We can rest there."

Cynder nodded her head in affirmation and, with a renewed sense of confidence, took a running start and leapt up into the air. The beating of wings behind her told her that Spyro had also taken flight, and she slowed her pace to let the purple dragon catch up. They flew together in silence for a while, before Spyro finally broke it.

"Cynder… I'm sorry…"

"What for?"

"For blanking out like that. It was selfish of me, and short sighted. I shouldn't have shut you all out."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Cynder offered him a warm smile, which he happily returned. "I know what it feels like to despair over something I had no control over."

Spyro's voice took on a more sympathetic tone when he asked, "And how are you holding up with that?"

She took a few moments to think on this before answering.

"What we discovered in that town made me realise something."

"Oh?"

"It made me realise that it doesn't matter if we failed before, or something happened that we couldn't control, or could have prevented but didn't. They happened, and if we don't do anything, things like that are going to keep happening." She turned to face the purple dragon, staring straight into his eyes. "It doesn't matter what personal turmoil we're feeling. We have to put them aside for now, and focus on stopping these things from happening."

Spyro seemed momentarily stunned by this. Then he turned his head to face forward again and said, "You're right. It doesn't matter that I was gone for all those years. What matters is that I'm back now, and that I won't rest until this war is over." He turned to face Cynder again and gave her a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Cynder."

No, thank you, Spyro. For everything." With that she flew on ahead towards the banks of the Silver River.

XXX

She awoke to find herself lying on a strange, rocky surface, and when she opened her eyes she was greeted to the sight of a seemingly endless iridescent void with several large pieces of rock floating within, partially obscured by a grey mist.

_Oh great, _she thought. _I'm dreaming about my battle with Spyro in Convexity again._

She began to stand up, and was startled to see that her body was her normal size. Looking around, she noticed that the environment was different to that of Convexity in a number of ways: this realm appeared to have more of a blue tinge to it, and there were some remains of an ancient white temple floating amidst the rocks. There was also a distinct lack in the strange creatures she had encountered in Convexity, for which she was extremely grateful.

"Where am I?" She wondered aloud.

"You are dreaming, young one."

Cynder yelped in shock, turning frantically to find the source of the unexpected answer. When she saw no-one, she cautiously asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I am known as the Chronicler." The voice spoke again, sounding as if its owner had lived since the dawn of time. "And I am here to help you, Cynder."

"How? In what way can you help?"

"Do you see that old temple over there?"

"Yes…"

"Fly to it."

Cynder spread her wings and took flight towards the old ruin that the Chronicler had directed her to. She didn't know why, but something about that voice seemed reassuring, trustworthy.

When she reached the ruin, she was met with a strange sight; an odd shimmering force seemed to block the way through a stone arch between two walls. In front of it sat an old circular pool, not dissimilar to the Pool of Visions in the Dragon Temple, only this one was a pearly white in colour. She approached it and gazed into its surface.

"I am rather impressed with you today, young dragoness." The Chronicle's voice spoke again, this time seeming to come from within the pool in front of her. "It takes a great deal of courage to set your fears aside like that."

Um… thank you…" Cynder stammered, taken by surprise at the unexpected praise, not to mention the way this "Chronicler" seemed to know everything about her. "I was just…"

"-So moved by the fate of the wind dragons that you wanted to do something to set things right?"

Cynder was slightly unnerved by this being's vast knowledge of her, but for now she decided to let that go. "Yes… it just saddens me to know that they're all gone…"

"Yes, the loss of this large community is indeed a sad one. But do not worry, young dragoness. There are still many wind dragons left in the world… I'm talking to one of them right now."

_What? Me, a wind dragon? _

"Have you not wondered how it is that flying comes to you so easily, almost as if you were born for it?" The Chronicler continued. "Wind dragons naturally have bodies that are better suited to flight than other dragons. Their larger wingspan makes take off and extended flight as easy as breathing, and their slimmer bodies make them more aerodynamic. Both your time as the Dark Master's servant and your current life show this."

"But…" Cynder was struggling to take this all in. "When I was corrupted by the Dark Master, I had control of the fire element! How could I possibly have the power of wind as well?"

"When he took control of you, he bestowed upon you the power of flame, as well as other more sinister abilities. The purple dragon has the power to grant an elemental power to another dragon if they so wish. When this happened, your birth element was suppressed, and has since lain dormant. Let us see if we might not awaken it…

The pool began to glow, and, almost instinctively, stepped in, her paws barely breaking the surface of the shallow water. Once she was stood facing the archway, she closed her eyes.

"Concentrate, Cynder," The Chronicler's voice seemed to echo all around her. "And feel the ever-changing movements of the wind. Allow them to calm you, to guide you when you are lost. In turn, they will allow you to guide them, and will follow wherever you direct them."

Cynder concentrated, and after a few short moments she could feel it: the wind. The free, unpredictable wind. A feeling of serenity swept over her, and she could sense the wind guiding her movement. Her wings began to beat softly, lifting her ever so slightly off the ground.

"That's it! Rise, and unleash the full force of the wind!" The Chronicler urged.

The wind around her began to whirl faster and faster, until all she could hear was the thunderous roar of the swirling vortex that surrounded her. Then, with a single thought, she commanded the energy to expand.

With a tremendous howl, the wind energy she had gathered exploded into a gale force wind that expanded in all directions, and when she opened her eyes Cynder could see the strain the walls of the old temple were under, groaning in protest, and for a moment she was afraid they would collapse.

The winds then died down, and Cynder panted heavily as she landed on the ground, the truth of what she had just done finally starting to settle in.

_I just performed a Wind Fury._

"Excellent, Cynder! The Chronicler exclaimed. "I knew you had it in you! But now that you can feel the wind's flow and direct its movement, show me that you have true command of it."

As he said this, the rippling barrier of elemental energy in the archway dissipated, leaving the path ahead clear.

"Go forth, Cynder, and master the power that has been within you since birth. Go forth, and make your ancestors proud."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I have one word to describe writing this chapter:**

**UUGGGGGHHHHH...**

**I started writing it not long after the last chapter, and it was coming along nicely. Then, I suddenly got inspiration for another story, and I just _had to write it down before I forgot. You know, despite the fact that I have a surprisingly good memory when it comes to story ideas. _The idea actually takes place after this story, and I might actually post the finished first chapter when it's done to see if anyone would want to see more.**

**But yeah, this idea got in the way of the main story, and I entered a HUGE writer's slump. It doesn't help that I was distracted by trying to complete Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, which was incredibly aggravating. :|**

**Most of what you've read here was actually written on Friday, as I spent many an hour just trying to finish. I'm surprisingly pleased with this result, as I originally wasn't looking forward to this chapter. I also cut out a bit of travelling (Cynder's dream was gonna happen once they reached Summer Forest, with a little reference to Twilight Falls from DOTD), and look at it! Longer than the previous two chapters put together! Spyro's and Cynder's sudden determination in the town was mostly improvised, and yet I felt it worked rather well.  
><strong>

**Anyway, I think I've rambled on long enough. The next chapter shouldn't be too long in the making (famous last words), as it's a bit shorter than the others, and I'm actually looking forward to it a lot.**

**I don't want to sound like I'm begging for reviews, but please do leave a review, as they can really help me out a lot with knowing how well I'm doing, or pointing out any mistakes that either Fire Shallows or I missed. Constructive Criticism is also appreciated.**

**Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 3:_

_Pursuing Darkness_

He stood on the edge of a rocky outcrop that overlooked the winding valley below, watching the Hau River flow between the mountains. A fine mist hung over the mountain peaks, obscuring them from view in the weak pre-dawn light. Overall, the landscape painted the perfect picture of serenity.

He hated it.

He hated the calmness of this place; he hated how every gust of wind sent shivers down his spine; he hated just how bloody _cold_ it was.

_I shouldn't be surprised, _he thought bitterly. _Everywhere in the world seems cold to someone who was born and raised in the world's hottest desert. _The thought didn't make him any warmer, though, and so he blew a small stream of fire towards his chest, not enough to hurt him, but enough to heat him up, even just a little bit.

_This is humiliating. I should be out fighting, or tracking down refugees from one of the dragon cities. Instead, I have to babysit a bunch of apes because they've gone and lost a group of scouts! This isn't what Gaul bought me for! I can kill, I can hunt, I can lead an army into battle if I have to! Why does that _fool_ waste my talents on mundane tasks such as this?_

When the Shadowmages had sold him to Gaul, the Ape King had promised that he would be given the opportunity to do what he had spent most of his life being trained to do: kill.

The Ape King had kept true on his promises, and for those few weeks it had been glorious. He had burned villages to the ground, he had hunted refugees, he had even destroyed an entire civilisation in a matter of hours… well, _almost_ destroyed, although that lone survivor couldn't hide forever – when he was given a job, he would ensure he finished it.

When Gaul had departed for the Well of Souls, the King had left him in charge of his armies until their master returned. He had used this time to lead the ape forces into ruthless attacks on many dragon settlements, and had even begun to make plans to lay siege to Warfang, the great capital of the Dragon Realms.

When they received word of Gaul's death, slain by the young purple dragon, the apes had crowned his son, Garth, as their new king. Garth harboured a deep hatred for the dragon race, even more so than his father, who at least acknowledged that some of them had their uses.

The new king had been quick to relieve him of command, and had led the siege of Warfang himself.

Suffice to say, it did not go well.

The apes had taken the city, true, and still held it to this day, but the way they had taken it had not been easy. King Garth had _insisted_ that they leave the city intact, so the apes had not been able to use their full force. This had led to many of the dragons managing to escape, including the dragon Guardians. At least three of the Guardians had been in the city at the time of the siege, and they had all escaped.

_I wouldn't have let them escape I would have had the Dreadwings firebomb the city, before hunting down any survivors and ending them. I would have killed the Guardians personally. I would have burnt the whole damn city to the ground! I should have been in command, or at least taken part in the battle. Instead, that young fool sent me away from the warfront to endure years of wasted potential!_

"General Raaka, we have need of your presence."

The black dragon sighed and glanced over his shoulder at the burly ape commander standing behind him.

"What is it?" He asked impatiently.

"The search party we sent out has returned." The ape said, seemingly unperturbed by the hostile edge in the dragon's voice. "It would be best if you hear what they have to say first hand."

"Very well." _I suppose I should hear this. _"You go on ahead: I'll be there shortly."

"Yes, sir." The ape bowed and left, leaving Raaka to his thoughts once more.

_This had better be important, for their sake; Ancestors help them if they haven't found something I can kill; I may have to settle for one of them._ _It's not like my master – my _true _master, not that pompous ape – will care._

After one final glance at the mountains, Raaka unfolded his pale blue wings and leapt off of the edge, making his way to the apes' campsite.

XXX

"Are you absolutely certain?"

"Y…yes, sir." The ape scout stammered, his face fearful as he looked into Raaka's burning yellow eyes. "I'm sure of what I saw. The other scouts saw them, too. You can… you can ask them if you don't believe me…"

"That will not be necessary. I believe you." Raaka said, and the scout practically sagged with relief, glad he would not be on the receiving end of the black dragon's deadly tail blade. "Thank you for telling me this. You did well."

"Thank you, sir!" The scout said before scurrying away to join the group of apes gathered by a campfire.

"Are we to pursue them, sir?" The commander asked from behind Raaka.

"I need a moment to think on this." He replied, closing his eyes in concentration.

_This is better than anything I could have hoped for! Sure, six scouts are dead, but this is an incredible opportunity! We cannot let it pass us by!_

"How many soldiers do we have?" He asked, opening his eyes and turning to look the commander in the face.

"Including myself, there are sixteen of us here. However, there is an outpost not far from here, and they are well provisioned. With our combined forces we would number around fifty. They also have a pack of wolves and several Death Hounds, as well as eight Dreadwings."

_That should be enough, especially with me in the fray._

"Make haste to this outpost, and tell them to meet me in the ruins of the old market town." Raaka ordered. "Tell them to come well-armed, and to bring any Elemental Armour they have to me."

"Yes, sir!" The commander saluted. "Is it to be battle?"

"Yes." The black dragon turned to the south, a look of deadly intent in his eyes. "Yes it is."

XXX

It took over two hours for the ape host to gather in the town, and by that time the sun had risen. As ordered, the apes had piled pieces of silver armour in front of Raaka. When he used his fire breath on them they began to glow, and red runes appeared on them. Once he was finished with the armour he rose to address the gathered apes, and the commander called for order.

"Listen up" Our mission here may sound simple, but it will only work if we are prepared! Some of you may be thinking that because our targets are weak and tired that they will be easier to subdue. Some of you may become overconfident, or even reckless. _This will get you killed._

"Our target isn't some lost hatchling, or a stray Warfang Guard who's out of magic. This is a _purple dragon_, and even a magically drained purple dragon is more dangerous than any other foe you may face. Do not underestimate him, or even his companions, for that matter. The dragoness was your former general, the Terror of the Skies, and I'm sure many of you remember how ruthless she was in battle. The cheetah may look weak, but he managed to take down an entire scouting party with ease. If we simply go up against them, all of you will most likely die." _Not that I would care._ "We need to turn the situation to our advantage, to force them to run. This is why I intend to set the forest on fire.

"Those of you who will be on the front lines with me will have nothing to fear from the flames. I have imbued some of my fire magic into this armour." He indicated the pile of armour with his wing, and the ape commander and his medium-sized subordinates began to gather them up and hand them out. "This will protect you from the flames, as well as any fire-based attacks the dragons may throw at you. The Dreadwings will carry our archers for aerial support, and we will release the Hounds and Wolves first, in order to make our targets more inclined to flee.

"Prepare for battle! We attack on my mark!"

It didn't take long for the company of apes to get ready; they were eager for battle, and had been known to work faster fir the promise of bloodshed.

Once they were prepared, Raaka turned once more to address them and said, "Take the dragons alive, if possible. I know our master would relish the prospect of having them as prisoners. Kill the others." He then turned his head upward and unleashed a powerful, ear-splitting scream, which manifested in the form of a blood-red shockwave.

At this signal, the apes charged, the Wolves and Death Hounds bounding forward madly, and the Dreadwings took to the air.

_The purple dragon's days of hiding are over._

* * *

><p><strong>What's this? I actually uploaded relatively soon after a previous upload? What is this madness...<br>**

**Anyway, big thanks to Fire Shallows for Beta-reading this for me.**

**Fire Shallows is also working on a FanFiction, called The Legend of the Purple Dragon: A New Age. It's looking really great so far, and I'm sure he'd appreciate you guys checking it out.**

**So, we are introduced to a new character and one of my oldest , Raaka. I tell you, this was really fun to write, and I'm looking forward to future chapters with him. The character has actually gone through several different iterations during his existence, one of which as Malefor's son! I think I'm happy with where I'm taking him with this, though. **

**I do have a quick announcement to make, though: I may have to take a little break from writing to go into planning of this story. I'll write the next chapter (should be fun!) but during that time and a bit after it, I'll be doing some serious brainstorming of where I'm going with this story, including some finer details, the overall theme, what characters to introduce and - most importantly - make it fit in with the first two TLoS games... y'know, the whole reason I started this thing.**

**Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you thought of this chapter, and what you think of Raaka.**


	5. Announcement

I am afraid that I have some bad news: I am putting this story on an indefinite hiatus.  
>I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I have my reasons.<p>

Firstly, I feel as if I've had a loss of interest in this story. This is partially due to a lack of planning on my part, as there are still many parts of the story that I need to plan that I can't seem to get any ideas for. The current chapter that I'm writing is also taking forever (almost as long as Cynder's chapter - my longest one - and it's not even halfway there!), and I feel as if I've written myself into a dead end and I don't know how to get out of it.

Secondly, I want to focus on other series and projects. I actually have another story planned, based on the Super Smash Bros. series, and I feel like that would be a better use of my writing time. I've already started writing it, and I just feel that I'm enjoying it a lot more. I think a wider range of characters also helps me gain interest in writing, as well as diversifying my writing style.

Finally, I feel that the original purpose of my story - to create a replacement story for Dawn of the Dragon - is really dragging me down, and is causing me an unbelievable amount of stress in trying to reach this goal and tie up any loose ends left in A New Beginning or The Eternal Night.

Once again, I'm sorry about this, but I think it's for the best that I leave this story alone for a while, and come back to it when I have more inspiration to write for it, as well as more interest in the Spyro universe.

I don't know whether I'm going to continue this at a later point or just cancel it, but I will let you know either way.

A big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed and supported me and this story, and I hope you understand my reasoning for the hiatus. Your support means more to me than you know. If you are a fan of Super Smash Bros., or are interested in the series, then hopefully my upcoming story will interest you, and you will be willing to check it out.

Special thanks go to Fire Shallows for being a great Beta-Reader and general advisor, as well as a great friend. Thank you as well to all of my friends who have read through my progress and given me feedback on it: you know who you are.

Thank you for reading my story thus far, and hopefully we shall meet again in the future.

Telekinetic Moose


	6. The Last Time

**Hello again.**

**I mentioned last time that I would not be continuing this story. While this is still true, I felt I abandoned it with such short notice, and some of you may have been hoping for the next chapter only to be disappointed.**

**So, this is what I have done so far of that chapter. It is incomplete and hasn't been beta read fully, but I feel that something is better than nothing. I will go into more detail after the now, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><em>Chapter 4: Fleeing the Flames<em>

His head broke the surface of the cool water and he gasped, breathing in the fresh morning air of the forest. Once had had caught his breath, Spyro glanced over to the spot by the river where the others had taken refuge for the night, and saw that the three of them were still sound asleep. Glad that his morning excursions had not woken his companions, the purple dragon smiled before diving into the river once more.

When he was younger – before he had discovered his true heritage – he had often gone down to the river whenever he had something troubling on his mind. The cooling waters had helped to calm his thoughts, and somehow made his problems feel a lot smaller.

Oh, how he needed that now.

The severity of the task ahead of him had only just hit him last night; now that his thoughts weren't as full of grief over his absence as they had been before, Spyro had started to think of how best to go about the task of making up for his disappearance. He had the thought that defeating the Dark Master would be the best way to end the war that ravaged the world, and it was then that he realised just how daunting – not to mention impossible – that task looked. And so, he had lain awake for most of the night, the same question floating in a mind that did not know the answer:

_How am I supposed to defeat another purple dragon that has decades – if not centuries – more knowledge and experience than me?_

He sighed, streams of bubbles issuing from his mouth into the cool water. Slowly, he rose to the surface once more as he tried to reason to himself that he was worrying too much; that he was thinking too far ahead.

_One thing at a time, Spyro. First things first, we have to get back to the temple, to Ignitus and the others. _Then_ I can worry about the Dark Master._

He looked over at his friends once more and felt a small stab of jealousy at them; they had all endured many hardships over their lives, yet none of them had the fate of the entire world resting on their shoulders. Cynder was struggling with the things she had been forced to do, haunted by her past, but she could also choose her future, unburdened by duty or destiny. Hunter was only escorting them to the Dragon Temple; once that task was complete he would be free to go back to his home, untroubled by the struggles of two warring races. And as for Sparx…

Spyro started. The cheetah and black dragoness were both sleeping peacefully, but the golden dragonfly was nowhere to be seen. Spyro gazed at their campsite, trying to see if he could catch so much as a flicker of light from his friend, but to no avail. He was just beginning to wonder whether he should wake the others to help look for him when a voice spoke from behind him.

"Looking for someone?"

Spyro yelped in surprise, and turned around to find himself face-to-face with Sparx.

"Sparx!" Spyro exclaimed, taken aback by the dragonfly's sudden appearance. "Don't do that! You startled me!"

"Sorry, Spyro," the dragonfly replied, grinning mischievously. "But it's just too fun messing with you like that. So," His expression became more serious. "What's on your mind?"

"Who said I had anything on my mind?" Spyro replied indignantly.

"Hmm. Let's see…" Sparx said in mock-thought. "You're awake when by all rights you should be asleep, you're swimming in the river like you used to when we were younger, and you've got that pouty 'I'm-a-hero-and-I-have-to-save-the-world' look on your face. I know you too well."

"…And I know _you_ too well to hope you're going to stop bothering me about this." Spyro muttered.

"Oh, come on, Spyro!" Sparx groaned. "When are you going to stop shutting me out like this? I'm your brother, you can tell me!"

_He's right. _Spyro thought. _I am shutting him out. Him and everyone else._

"To tell you the truth, Sparx, I'm…" Spyro stopped: it made him feel weak, childish, even, to voice what he was thinking, but then Sparx did seem genuinely concerned, and Spyro knew that, despite his sarcastic nature, the little dragonfly usually meant well.

Usually.

"The truth is, I'm afraid." Spyro finished.

"In your position? I'm not surprised." Sparx said. "I mean, it's not like single-handedly defeating an ancient dragon of limitless power and no conscience is going to be easy, is it?"

"No, it isn't."

"But then again, you are full of surprises." The dragonfly continued. "I mean, in the span of a few weeks you went from being Spyro the Fat Dragonfly to defeating a dragoness that made pretty much every other dragon run from her like babies. You're a tough kid, Spyro, and I know you can do this."

Spyro was at a loss for words; to hear how much his brother believed in him, how certain he sounded, meant a lot to him. After several awkward moments, Spyro let out a choked, "Thank you."

"No problem, little brother." Sparx replied.

"'Little brother'?" Spyro repeated, laughing in spite of the uncertainty of his future, and he felt as if a great weight upon his chest had lessened. "Whatever happened to constantly making cracks about my weight?"

"I meant little brother in terms of age. Everyone knows _I'm _the more mature of the two of us."

The two brothers struggled to keep a straight face, before they both erupted in gales of laughter, and Spyro found that once they had started it seemed difficult to stop. Spyro wasn't even sure if he wanted to; it felt like forever since he had enjoyed a laugh with his brother.

Their merriment was cut short, however, when the air was rent with a chilling, ethereal shriek, which echoed around the mountains behind them. Spyro turned to face the mountains and saw that the sky above them had been tainted red. Before he could ponder on this, it faded to grey once more, and he could see several winged shapes rising from the mountains. Spyro recognised the creatures even from a distance, and with a mounting sense of dread knew he that they were neither draconic nor friendly.

"We've got to go, now!" He exclaimed to Sparx, and together the two of them left the river and returned to their camp, where Hunter was just beginning to rise, no doubt having been woken by the strange shriek.

"Spyro, Sparx, what's going on?" The cheetah asked blearily.

"Hunter, we've got to get out of here! A hoard of Dreadwings are coming this way!" Spyro said in a rush.

Hunter was instantly on the alert, all grogginess forgotten as he packed away the few supplies they had used for the night and slung the bag over his shoulder.

Spyro looked over to Cynder, and was dismayed to see that she was still asleep. He ran over to her prone form, silently berating her for her inaction; how could she sleep at a time like this?

"Cynder, we've got to go!" Spyro nearly shouted, shaking her roughly by the shoulder. "We're about to be attacked!"

But the dragoness did not stir.

"I can't wake her up!" Spyro cried desperately, and the next thing he knew Hunter had ran over and lifted Cynder up, slinging her over his shoulder after repositioning his bag. The cheetah drew a knife from his belt and said, "Let's go."

The group ran frantically through the forest for some time, using the river to guide their way. Panting heavily, Spyro wondered how the Dark Master's forces had found them, wen Hunter had been so sure that they wouldn't be troubled. He was about to voice his concerns when a deep boom resounded from somewhere behind them, and they turned around to see large clouds of smoke billowing in the distance, along with the unmistakeable glow of flames.

"They're bombing the forest!" Hunter exclaimed. "At this rate, we won't be able to outrun them for much longer!"

Spyro struggled to think of a way out of their predicament, and after a few moments found an answer, albeit a temporary one.

"I have an idea," he said. "Get as close to me as you can, now!"

Once they were near enough to him, Sparx hovering close to his right horn and Hunter by his left flank, Spyro closed his eyes in concentration.

The Chronicler had told him to use this power sparingly, only if circumstances demanded its use. Well, circumstances seemed to be demanding it now. Spyro focused his power, and he immediately felt the world slow down around him. He opened his eyes and couldn't help but grin at Hunter's awed expression as he beheld this phenomenon.

"How did you…" He started, but the purple dragon merely shook his head.

"It doesn't matter right now." Spyro said firmly. "We need to hurry; I usually only had to do this for Sparx and myself: I don't know how long I can keep this up for all of us."

They set off once more, accompanied by the strange sights of leaves suspended in mid-fall and the river flowing so slowly it might have stopped completely. Any sounds they heard were oddly muffled, as if they were underwater. Spyro could feel the strain of magical energy throughout his body as he maintained his grip on time, yet knew that he must persist, that this was the only way they could outrun their foe.

The group made good progress for the next couple of minutes, but Spyro was struggling to go on. Eventually, his control of time gave out, and he collapsed in exhaustion as time resumed its normal course.

"Are you alright?" Hunter inquired, bending down and lowering Cynder to the ground.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" Spyro panted, shakily rising to his feet. "But I don't think I'll be able to do that again anytime soon. I guess it's only a matter of time before they catch us. When that happens, then we'll need to fight our way out."

"If that is the case, then I have something that may help." The cheetah reached into his pocket and withdrew something that Spyro did not expect to find in there: a green magic gem.

"How did you come by this?" Spyro asked in awe.

"I found it on the day you woke from the crystal. I figured it would be useful to keep in case either you or Cynder needed it." He held the gem towards Spyro. "Take it!" He urged.

Spyro reached out with his paw and took hold of the gem. Almost immediately he felt a rush of energy surge from the gem and into his body, leaving him feeling completely rejuvenated. Once he was done, he let the gem fall to the ground, dull and lifeless.

"There. Now I can fight if I have to. Let's keep moving."

Hunter picked up Cynder once more, and together the group continued on their way.

The resounding booms of the Dreadwings' bombs slowly got louder, and Spyro thought he could hear the sounds of howling and barking, getting closer and closer by the minute. Spyro glanced over his shoulder quickly and caught a glimpse of several dark shapes of varying sizes running towards them, silhouetted against the roaring flames of the burning forest. The closest of their pursuers would be on them in a few minutes.

"We've got company!" Spyro shouted to the others. "We'll need to stop if we want to defend ourselves properly!"

The group ground to a halt at the top of a small incline, hoping that higher ground would make their position more defensible. Hunter lowered Cynder against the trunk of a tree, out of harm's way, before unslinging his bow and nocking and drawing his first arrow. Sparx took cover next to the black dragoness, and Spyro stood poised in the direction of their foes, ready to draw upon the vast well of magic he possessed at a moment's notice.

Now that they were getting closer, Spyro could just about discern their pursuers: a pack of wolves charged at the front of the host, followed by several of the mangy, canine-reptile hybrids the Apes called "Death Hounds". Behind them marched almost three-dozen apes, some wielding swords, others axes, the smaller ones only armed with their claws, but all clad in silver armour that shone like the sun in the light of the towering flames behind them.

Spyro heard a _thrum_ from beside him, and he knew that Hunter had fired a shot at their foe, for one of the wolves had fallen and did not get up again. Several more fell as Hunter fired arrow after arrow, even managing to hit one of the ape soldiers in the head, but Spyro knew that he was only delaying the inevitable: they would have to engage the enemy in direct combat. Hoping to slow them down for a few moments longer, Spyro drew a deep breath before launching a ball of ice into the midst of the ape's forces. The Polar Bomb exploded in a hail of icy shards as it impacted the ground, releasing an arctic fog that froze several of the apes in place. The apes were fearless in their advance, however, and before Spyro could launch another projectile, the wolves and hounds were upon them.

Spyro released the electrical energy he had been charging in his mouth at the nearest wolf, which spasmed and died as the current tore through its body. Before it had even hit the ground, Spyro unleashed a flurry of ice shards, killing two hounds and injuring a third, which Spyro finished off with a quick blast of fire. As the hound yelped as it was set alight, two more wolves rushed at Spyro. One fell from a well-placed shot from Hunter, but the other still charged, jaw open in bloodlust as it lunged for the purple dragon.

Spyro barely had a chance to react; he leapt up and hovered in the air, staring down at the wolf that was now clawing at the ground where he had been a second ago. Seizing his chance, Spyro curled up and dove straight down, slamming into the wolf and driving it into the ground with a sickening_ crunch._

He rose from his kill only to be greeted by a pair of Death Hounds snarling inches from his face. Reacting instinctively, Spyro blasted the creatures away with an eruption of earth energy from his maw, flinging them several feet through the air and into a large tree, where they crumpled to the ground, motionless.

The wolves and hounds had all been defeated, having either been felled by one of Hunter's arrows or falling victim to Spyro's magical onslaught, but the apes were getting dangerously close, and Spyro knew they would be quickly overwhelmed.

* * *

><p><strong>So, yeah. That was a pretty long chapter, and it was nowhere close to being completed. It probably would have been as long as the other chapters put together.<br>**

**But yes, I am afraid that this is the end of this little story. I covered that in the last chapter, but I felt as if I needed to clarify a bit more. I just... don't really know where I was going with this, and to be honest, I'm not even sure if it was necessary to begin with.**

**If I do ever go back to writing TLoS stories, then I will most likely continue my future story and just rework it a bit so it ties in with DotD. **

**Speaking of that story, I have another chapter of it written down, so I will most likely post that sometime soon, too. After that, I'm not going to touch it for a long time.**

**Once again, a big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited and followed this story. You guys have been great. Also, a HUGE thank you to Fire Shallows for being a great beta reader, creative consultant and friend.**

**Now, for that other project I mentioned last time...**

**I have already written a few chapters for my Super Smash Bros. story, but I don't think it is quite ready yet. I still have a bit of planning to do, and I'd rather have a full plan BEFORE I start it.**

**I'm also working on a short Fire Emblem story that ties in slightly with it, and provides a bit more backstory for the characters from Awakening at the start of the Smash story.**

**If you are interested in either of these, then hopefully they shall be uploaded soon. If not, then this is where we part ways, and thank you once more for being supportive of this story.**

**If you have anything you want to ask, be it about this story or any future stories I have, feel free to PM me, and I will try to answer to the best of my ability.**

**Once again, thank you everyone for reading this, and I wish you all the best.**

**-Telekinetic Moose.**


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